U.S. Pat. No. 6,039,803 describes a GeSi layer that is grown epitaxially on a silicon substrate having a lattice constant different from the GeSi layer. First, a graded buffer GeSi layer is formed on the silicon substrate, serving as lattice adaptation between the silicon substrate and a relaxed GeSi layer formed on the graded buffer GeSi layer. This method results in a high quality epitaxial GeSi layer but it is difficult and very time consuming, leading to high costs of the produced GeSi layers. Thus, these layers are often only applied in very specific instances, despite their excellent electronic properties. Thus, improvements in providing such GiSe layers are desired, and these are now provided by the present invention.